Forwarded, with permission, from my cancer list:

> Arrrgh I get so mad about stuff like this!
>
> In school this year we learned a lot about cheap multivitamin preparations
> like Centrum and One-A-Day. They use synthetic versions, inorganic
minerals,
> and cheap chemically-derived vitamins (often from bacteria or yeast that
> have been genetically modified to produce the molecule using cornstarch,
> wood pulp or other vegetable and animal waste) to increase profits. They
are
> loaded with fillers, dyes, waxes and preservatives that actually prevent
> absorption. Some of these vitamins are almost completely unavailable
> biologically yet can displace the real thing from cell receptor sites.
These
> multivitamins are the ones used in the studies. Conventional medical
> researchers maintain that vitamins are all the same, even though nutrition
> and molecular biology research clearly shows there are huge differences in
> bioavailability and biological effects from different forms and sources of
> the vitamins.
>
> Synthetic beta carotene has different effects in the body than the
naturally
> occurring food carotenes, or the natural source carotenes in better
quality
> supplements. It's like the difference between butter and margarine in the
> body: same calories, both are fats, but margarine is toxic and butter is a
> fairly beneficial food. Synthetic beta carotene is used in almost all the
> studies funded by drug companies. But the molecule is a mirror image of
the
> real thing. Works like a pro-oxidant instead of an antioxidant. Ditto for
D,
> E and A forms. Toxic or ineffective. Yet the natural forms are the ones
that
> are trumpeted as being harmful or useless, while they keep mum on the
> effects of the fake ones.
>
> The studies that were done on better quality supplements (e.g. Thorne,
Tyler
> and others) showed a different result - 200% reduction in all-cause
> mortality (Sherry Rogers newsletter) after a year of taking one daily.